Since June 1, 2016 Jean-Jacques Tortora serves as the Director of the European Space Policy Institute.

From 2007 to mid 2016 he was the Secretary General of ASD-Eurospace, which is the trade association of the European Space Industry.

From 2004 to mid 2007, he was head of the French Space Agency (CNES) office in North America and the Attaché for Space and Aeronautics at the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C.
Previously he was Deputy Director for Strategy and Programs, responsible for the Industrial Strategy of CNES, the French Space Agency.

Prior to that position, he was France’s representative in the ESA Industrial Policy Committee and Joint Communication Board.

From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Tortora was adviser to the French Ministry of Research for Industrial Policy Funds management, aiming at industry competitiveness support and new space applications and services development and promotion.

From 1996 to 1998, he was appointed by Arianespace in Evry, France, to lead a risk mitigation and cost reduction plan covering to the end of operational life of the Ariane 4 launcher.

From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Tortora was based in Kourou, French Guiana, as Head of Arianespace Operations Quality Department. There, he led the Quality Management of the Ariane 4 launchers final integration and of the launch pad operations and maintenance. He supervised the industrialization and the implementation of the associated control plans.

Mr. Tortora started his career in 1984 at the French military procurement agency, DGA, as a naval weapons integration and test engineer, expert in signal processing and warships acoustic discretion.

Tortora is on the Council of The Off-World Approach.

“The space enterprise was once government-oriented and controlled.

It is now largely driven by the need to develop multiple applications to serve civil society. As the shift from government-control to private sector-control continues, measures will need to be taken to stabilize and maintain the advancement.”

– Jean-Jacques Tortora